Giveaways can be a very powerful tool if you want to build buzz while growing your audience.
If you give things away carelessly, however, this can result in your brand looking cheap.
Relate the Giveaway to your Brand and Audience
The first thing you need to do is try and find a purpose. Take ASDA, for example, a popular supermarket in the UK. They are approaching their 60th anniversary and have hidden 40 golden tickets in their stores. Each one is worth £1,500, and you can redeem them for free petrol or free diesel for a year at an ASDA fuel station. The promotion ends on the 25th of August, with the scheme tying loyalty and excitement together.
The US baseball team, the Houston Astros, has also run several giveaway campaigns this year. During their game against the Mets on March 29th, they gave away a Jeremy Peña Retro Basketball Jersey to one lucky fan, with subsequent giveaways taking place as the games went by. The great thing about this campaign is that it targeted people who were already invested in the brand and who had bought a ticket to their games.
It’s also wise to take inspiration from different sectors when planning your giveaway. In iGaming, welcome offers are very common and remain a great way to encourage new sign-ups or first-time gamers. A slot bonus can take many forms, but at the same time, it can be very creative. Some promotions give you the chance to claim a £30 bingo bonus, £10 club bingo bonus, and 200 spins on certain slot games, like Big Bass. Promotions like this not only offer value to the customer but also encourage people to try out different offerings, without risk.
These examples show how you can offer something of worth, while aligning it with your brand and audience. It also shows how you can create barriers to entry, whether it’s buying a ticket, signing up with a site, or buying something from the store, in exchange for a chance to claim the giveaway or bonus.
Structure and Scarcity are Everything
Frequency and scarcity are everything when running promotions. If you run promotions too often, then you risk asking your audience to wait, because they know that another giveaway is imminent. Instead of running monthly giveaways, consider running them quarterly or seasonally. Use clear deadlines, offer limited entries, or even focus on exclusivity. It may be that you offer a promotion to someone if they have bought from you in the last three months, or if they have signed up for a newsletter.
In 2025, customers are more aware than ever, and it’s easy to track which brands are running which promotions. By running your promotions less often, but by making them more impactful at the same time, it becomes easier to make sure that you are offering people the chance to partake in your giveaway without diluting or devaluing your brand. For brands that want to stand out, this is a key strategy for customer acquisition that should not be overlooked.
Read more:
A 2025 Guide to Running Giveaways without Devaluing your Brand
